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Updated: Sep 23, 2026
Porcine Corneal Tissue Explant to Study the Efficacy of Herpes Simplex Virus-1 Antivirals
Published on: September 20, 2021
Antigenicity of porcine cornea as xenograft
Shiro Amano1, Naoki Shimomura, Yuichi Kaji
1Department of Ophthalmology, University of Tokyo School of Medicine, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. amanos-tky@umin.ac.jp
Purpose:
To investigate the antigenicity of porcine corneal stroma as xenograft to man.
Methods:
The localization of alpha-gal epitope in the porcine eye was determined using biotinylated Griffonia simplicifolia 1 isolectin B4. Porcine corneal stromal was inserted into corneal stromal pockets of cynomolgus monkeys. Immunohistochemistry was performed to analyze the immunological reaction in the monkey.
Results:
Immunohistochemistry showed no alpha-gal epitope in the porcine cornea except for several keratocytes in the anterior-most part. Haze and keratic precipitates developed in two corneas out of three corneas that were followed up until 6 months after the surgery. In these two corneas, infiltrating cells included CD4+, CD8+, or HAM56+ cells, suggesting that haze and keratic precipitates were induced by cellular rejection to porcine corneal stroma.
Conclusions:
Porcine corneal stroma induces no hyperacute rejection but mild cellular rejection when transplanted in the cornea of cynomolgus monkeys.
